Friday, August 16, 2013

Cloud Sourcing Spirituality

"Therefore,
since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid
ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in
running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on
Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith. For the sake of the joy that
lay before him he endured the cross, despising its shame, and has taken
his seat at the right of the throne of God. Consider how he endured such
opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose
heart. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the
point of shedding blood. You have also forgotten the exhortation
addressed to you as sons:

'My
son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when
reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges
every son he acknowledges.'

Endure
your trials as "discipline" God treats you as sons. For what "son" is
there whom his father does not discipline? If you are without
discipline, in which all have shared, you are not sons but bastards.
Besides this, we have had our earthly fathers to discipline us, and we
respected them. Should we not (then) submit all the more to the Father
of spirits and live? They disciplined us for a short time as seemed
right to them, but he does so for our benefit, in order that we may
share his holiness. At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for
joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of
righteousness to those who are trained by it."

One
of the first things that stands out is that the author of Hebrews uses
the term "discipline" eight times in this passage. Each use of the word
is based on the Greek word paideia,
which refers to the training of children or instruction in growing in
virtue. This word is only used here in Hebrews and two other places—Eph.
6:4 regarding how fathers should raise their children and 2 Tim. 3:16
describing how scripture is useful for “training in righteousness". It
is different from the more common New Testament usage of manthano which means “to learn”, and is the root of mathetes, from which we get “disciple”.

It is obvious from the author’s choice of paideia
and the context of the passage that he wishes to compare and contrast
the actions of our earthly fathers to God the Father, and children to
being "sons of God". On one hand we are directed to see in our fathers a
typology of the Father. Children often do not understand that
discipline is for their own good. Depending on the child’s age they may
not even recognize discipline as anything other than not getting our
way. I’m reminded of when my daughter Mary was not quite two years old.
She was set on sticking her finger into the wall outlet. At first I
would gently pick her up and move her, but she was determined.
Eventually I had to reach down and slap her hand to get the point
across. A father’s discipline can seem harsh, but it is most often
motivated by love and is done for our benefit. On the other hand the
author also points out that our earthly fathers’ discipline done in a
way “that seems right to them” which implies that sometimes it is done
imperfectly as we are all imperfect. God’s discipline, while we may not
understand it at the time, is done so that “we may share in his
holiness.”

Turning
to the beginning of this passage we can see the role that discipline
has in running a race. Ask any athlete, particularly endurance runners,
and they will tell you how important discipline is to being successful.
We are exhorted to “rid ourselves of every burden and sin”, to
“persevere in running the race” while we look at the example of Jesus
who “endured the cross” and “endured opposition” so we “do not grow
weary and lose heart”. The author uses very deliberate language all of
which evokes the idea of endurance requiring discipline. The footnote in
the New American Bible points out that the Greek word used to describe
the way sin “clings to us”, euperistatos, can also be translated as “easily distracts us”.

It
is at this point that I want to draw attention to the “great cloud of
witnesses”. Who are they and what is their role? We are told that they
are “surrounding” us, but we would be wrong to assume that these
witnesses are mere spectators looking on as we run the race. Turning
again to the Greek we see that the author of Hebrews uses perikeimai
to describe their relationship to us. Although translated here as
“surrounding” this word is found only a couple other times in the New
Testament. In Mark 9:42 and Luke 17:2, Jesus warns those who cause
“little ones” to sin. He says it would be better for them to be thrown
in the sea with a “milestone hung around their neck”. Likewise Acts
28:20, tells of Paul preaching while in a Roman prison “wearing these
chains”. It is perikeimai that
is translated in these passages as “hung around” and “wearing”. From
this perspective we can now see that the witnesses mentioned here are
not spectators, but rather seem more like participants. We are
surrounded by these witness who are connected to us as if partners in a
three-legged race.

Who
are these witnesses? Verse 1 begins with the keyword “therefore”, an
adjective implying that whatever follows is linked to that which
preceded it. We must remember that when the Letter to the Hebrews was
written it did not have the chapter and verse breaks that we have in our
bibles today. We must then look to Hebrews 11, listing many of the Old
Testament heroes of the faith, and specifically verse 40 which states,
“God had foreseen something better for us, so that without us they
should not be made perfect.” Do you understand what that means? The
saints in heaven are mystically untied to us not only to help us run the
race for our sakes but in some way for their sakes as well. That’s the
glory of the mystical Body of Christ. When one member succeeds we all
benefit. In 1 Corinthians 6:14-16, Paul warns us that when one member of
the Body of Christ sins we are all affected. So to, when one member
endures and runs the good race we all prosper.

We
turn once more to the call in Hebrews 12:1 to “rid ourselves of every
burden and sin that clings to (easily distracts) us”. It is now obvious
that while we must resist sin its hold on us, to the author of Hebrews,
is not nearly as strong as the bond we have with the Body of Christ (euperistatos/clinging, distracting vs. perikeimai/hung around, encompassing). So as we run our race, seeking through
discipline to follow the path laid down for us by Christ, let us not
hesitate to call upon the strength and merits of that “great cloud of
witnesses” running right alongside of us.

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about me

I'm Tom Ponchak. I received a degree in theology from the Franciscan University of Steubenville. After graduation I worked as a parish youth minister in Maryland and a high school religion teacher in Michigan.
In 1997, my wife and I left the Catholic Church and joined the Association of Vineyard Churches, a non-denominational, evangelical faith community. I was the founding pastor of Matthew's House Vineyard in central Florida.
After ten years away from Catholicism, and longing for the Eucharist, I returned to the Church in 2006. I am currently the Director of Adult Faith Formation at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel parish in Indiana. I am also a member of the Domestic expression of the Brothers and Sisters of Charity.